Triplett Rides Beaver Creek Beau for Round 1 Win in Bismarck
By: Justin Felisko
June 16, 2018
Matt Triplett rode Beaver Creek Beau for 89.5 points in Bismarck.
BISMARCK, N.D. – Matt Triplett watched on intently as Chad Berger’s $100,000 Match of Champions got underway on Friday night.
Triplett was on the back of the bucking chutes helping three-time INFR champion Dakota Louis at one point and cheering on the rest of his buddies throughout the evening.
Deep down, though, Triplett hopes to one day make his own appearance in a Match of Champions and be able to have the title of World Champion on his resume.
Triplett flashed his champion potential on Friday night by winning Round 1 of the Dakota Community Bank Touring Pro Division event with an 89.5-point ride on the 2,000-pound Beaver Creek Beau.
“Yeah, I am trying to steal the show,” Triplett said with a grin. “I’ve got a lot to prove, and I know I can be a World Champion. It’s just time to do it and be on the grind.”
Triplett was previously 0-2 against Beaver Creek Beau, and he becomes only the 12th rider in 113 outs to successfully ride the 8-year-old bull.
“Yeah, that was amazing,” Triplett said. “That bull’s awesome. It’s payback. He got me down twice and I felt like the first time I got on him I was like 7-something and he bucked me off, and I knew if I kept driving to the front he wasn’t going to get me.”
Triplett added that he was surprised Beaver Creek Beau wasn’t in the Match of Champions.
“Yeah I was a little surprised, they’re riding for $100,000 so they should have the cream of the crop, but I was so happy that I had him,” Triplett said. “Heck, I don’t care about them other guys. I needed the points. I knew I could win the round on him and it’s proven right now.”
The winner of the TPD Major on Saturday night takes home 120 points toward the world standings.
Rookie of the Year leader Keyshawn Whitehorse tied for second place in the round with Mason Lowe and Brennon Eldred.
Whitehorse converted aboard Gangster Can Do – a re-ride – in his first action since serving as an alternate for Team USA at the Sydney Global Cup.
“First jump, he hopped and skipped and kind of got my chin up,” Whitehorse said. “I was able to keep it down and enough to keep sight. You have to see where you are going. He had a lot of hop and skip, trying to fill his timing out. My left foot kept bouncing up and down and basically the whole ride I let my body take care of itself. I was thinking, ‘You better keep putting your foot down Keyshawn.’
“It was a lot of having fun with the challenge.”
Eldred, Whitehorse’s teammate in Sydney, has now ridden five consecutive bulls after covering Pile Driver in Round 1. Eldred went 2-for-2 in Sydney and rode two bulls at a rodeo in Nebraska on Thursday.
Lowe is trying to earn his way back to the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast and picked up 8 seconds on Golden.
“It’s big when you stay on,” Lowe said. “I have been riding really good, but I have been kind of conservative this year trying to heal up.”
Lowe has been dealing with a chronic elbow injury since last year and wound up not having to get surgery in the offseason.
“Not at all,” Lowe said if his elbow was still bothering him. “It is more of a mental deal. I kind of was not trusting it the first of the year.”
Cody Teel (87.5 points on Rebound) and Kache Moosman (87.5 points on Redneck) tied for fifth place.
Teel was competing in his first event since undergoing right ankle surgery at the end of March.
“I felt a little awkward. I am not going to lie,” Teel admitted. “I watched it back and it went good. I am happy I got that first one out of the way. I was aggressive.”
There were 10 qualified rides on Friday night, which impressed Berger.
“Among 40 bulls, there were about 10 short round bulls in there, and those guys tonight came to ride,” Berger said. “I was real happy. When I set that draw, I was a little worried. I thought we’d have the opposite. I thought we’d have a lot of rides in the World Champion deal and wouldn’t have many in the long one. But the only way you can have big, exciting rides is if you put them kind of bulls in there. If you just put 20-pointers in there, you’re going to be 82-84 all night long, and you might get bored watching. But these kind of bulls, they’re going to get thrown 20 feet in the air or they’re going to make 89-90-point rides.
“To me, that’s what people come to watch, and that’s what I’m going to give them.”
The man of the round was Triplett, and the 26-year-old is beginning to round into the form now that he is back in action.
Triplett missed the first four months of the season after his second surgery on his left shoulder in three years.
The Columbia Falls, Montana, bull rider finished third and fifth in the world standings before undergoing his first surgery at the end of 2015.
Berger believes Triplett has the potential to return to that Top-5 ranking in time.
“Really, Matt’s riding really good,” Berger said. “Beaver Creek Beau ain’t no slouch. He don’t get rode much, and Matt rode the heck out of him. That was a great ride and I’m glad to see he’s back.”
Triplett is 11-for-21 (52.38 percent) at all levels of competition since making his season debut on April 28 in Columbus, Ohio.
“The way I’m riding right now I just felt like I can ride anything,” Triplett concluded. “I love that bull and I love this event. It’s time to finish it.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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